I thought that I was immune to buying things that I don't need, and thus
had won my own personal battle against consumerism (which I define as
buying something you do not need). But I bought a Belkin WAP the other
day, it didn't work correctly, and I called their technical support to
try and iron out the problem. After about a 20-minute conversation, the
tech rep came to the conclusion that it was a faulty unit and agreed to
ship me a new one. So far, so good. But then I got an email from
Belkin asking me to fill out a survey form on the quality of the
technical support that I got. Fine. I did. I gave the tech rep high
marks (mostly because she agreed with me that the unit was not
functioning properly). The next day I received another email, thanking
me for participating in the survey, and giving me a "coupon number"
which would entitle me to a 50% discount if I bought something on-line
from Belkin by August 26th. Sounded good, except that I didn't need
anything. But then August 26th rolled around, and I began to
rationalize . . . after all, the router that I have COULD go bad, and
wouldn't it be neat to have one just sitting in the box, ready to
plug-and-go? And 50% off! Finally gave in and ordered a new router.
Which I do not need. Comsumerism wins. :-(

http://www.themeatrix.com/ andhttp://www.storewars.org A safe glance and what you are eating and why.
Believe me, the truth hurts. Don't take the red pill unless you are ready to
do something about it 'cause you will never eat eggs or chicken from the
super market again.

When I'm about to buy something I don't need, I try to either plant a fruit
tree, install something for my own sustainability (so far: wood stove,
hardwood floor, double pane windows, solar power system, chickens, fruit
trees, garden, whole house fan) or, if all else fails, I send the money to
these people instead.http://www.heifer.org/

If I bid on something in eBay, I place one bid for the most I would be
willing to pay. My Outlook is setup with a rule that deletes all the outbid
notices so I never see them. If I get it, great, if I don't, great.

I subscribe to free cycle. My filter only shows me the items that are
wanted, or specific things that I need that are offered. E.g. firewood, we
need a kitchen stove, things like that.

I have really strong spam filtering and a hard fast rule that I will never
EVER buy anything I see spamvertised. Yeah, ok, I've broken that rule, but
not very often.

I would love to hear other ideas on how to be sustainable, reduce
consumerism, increase permaculture and live with a small footprint and no
guilt or violence through incompetence.